Until We Meet At The Table Of Kings
by Raberba girl
Summary: Hiccup and Toothless complete each other, as if they are two halves of one being; separation is unthinkable - yet they can't avoid death forever.


Until We Meet At The Table Of Kings  
(rough draft)  
A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Hiccup and Toothless complete each other, as if they are two halves of one being; separation is unthinkable - yet they can't avoid death forever.

A/N: This is a three-part series of "What if?" scenarios that aren't part of my headcanon.

For _Lost Wings_, the first part is in Toothless's POV and the rest is third person. Lily, a VERY briefly mentioned OC, is Hiccup & Astrid's daughter.

**Part 1 - Lost Wings**

It was all _rage pain panic fury desperation agony_ for so long, never ending and never ending, but then I smelled my flock and now I smell _Hiccup_ and my mind clears.

Hiccup. My human, my other half. I realize as He's running to me and throws Himself at me that what had been scaring me so badly all along was His absence when I _needed_ Him.

But He's here now, and everything is all right.

"Toothless! Toothless Toothless oh gods no, _no_..." Our flock is fighting fiercely in the snow, but Hiccup doesn't seem to notice as He silently screams _"horror panic desperation"_ and scrabbles at my wounds.

_"OW! Stop that, it hurts! Come here instead!"_

Of course He doesn't listen. "No no no no no no no, oh Toothless, hang on buddy, just, oh, _Toothless_..."

It hurts so _much_, and even He can't fix all this, why can't He see that? What's left of my right wing is pinned under me and I can't move my tail when I try, so even though my other wing is broken and hurts so bad I scream, I still wrap it around Hiccup and drag Him close where I can reach Him.

"Toothless-!"

I feel so, so weak, but He still can't get loose when I tuck His leg under me and lay my forelegs over Him and rest my head on His chest. It feels so good to _rest_. My other half's scent and His heartbeat and His warmth comfort me. _I love You, Hiccup_. The pain fades away, and I am happy.

o.o.o.o.o

Hiccup, covered with the dragon's blood, stopped trying to free himself when he finally acknowledged that even the best healer in the world could do nothing for these wounds. He was helpless to stop his friend from leaving this life, and his last moments with Toothless could be filled either with love or with blind panic.

So, as Hiccup's heart shattered, he struggled to get his arms free and set them around Toothless's neck to embrace him. The dragon's warm green eyes closed. Hiccup pressed his lips to the top of his friend's head and then hid his face against the smooth black scales. The wounded Night Fury exhaled and then went utterly still, and Hiccup wept.

o.o.o.o.o

He waited for an eternity. Hoped. Grieved. Hiccup was finally no longer able to deny the fact that for the very first time, his dragon's body had become as cold as the snow drifting down on them. Hiccup finally lifted his head with the unbearably heavy knowledge that his dearest friend had passed out of his reach. "Toothless," he whispered. The dragon's face looked peaceful, as if he were merely asleep. Yet the blood drying on his broken wings and torn flesh made it clear that this was not a sleep he would ever wake from.

Hiccup's hands were shaking. He looked slowly around, observing as if detached from his body the battle still raging around him. Astrid and Stormfly fought fiercely to defend him as he grieved. They were backed up by a stone-faced, wet-eyed Lily and her Nightmare.

Shimmerwing was crouched in front of Hiccup, the last line of defense; her tiny wings were stretched out as far as they would go, and she was making enough noise for a dragon ten times her size. Hiccup finally reached out a hand and laid it gently on her shoulders, showing a complete lack of reaction when she instinctively whirled and bit him. The Terror's eyes widened, and she backed away, apologizing.

Hiccup got to his feet, which seemed to take a supreme effort. After standing for a moment, trying to collect his strength, he raised his head and roared out to his dragons.

Within seconds, every Night Fury in Berk's flock had come to circle him and their fallen leader. They all roared back in acknowledgement of their loss, the few with riders ignoring their humans' agitated confusion. Hiccup pointed firmly to Daydream. The midnight-blue dragon came to a graceful landing before him; the other Furies, dismissed, went to rejoin the battle.

"Daydream," Hiccup said softly, his heart heavy with grief, wondering how the young Night Fury would react.

Daydream looked at him for a moment, then slowly approached the blood-soaked body and sniffed it carefully. He finally raised his head and gazed at Hiccup for a while. Then he remarked gravely, _"My father is dead."_

"Yes," Hiccup whispered.

_"...Your other half is gone."_ Those cool green eyes, usually so withdrawn and mysterious, revealed a hint of compassion and grief.

Hiccup could not reply. Fresh tears spilled down his cheeks.

Daydream moved closer and lowered his head, gently touching his nose to Hiccup's hand. Hiccup caressed the dragon's dark scales, his heart breaking at how familiar the gesture was and yet how wrong. Daydream looked painfully similar, but he would never, ever be Toothless.

_"Day Dream...I beg of you, please be my wings."_ He didn't know what to expect - he had never really understood Daydream; the mysterious Night Fury might react with anything ranging from pleased agreement to offended refusal.

_"Of course."_ Daydream adopted a submissive stance and spread his wings, a clear (and rare) invitation for Hiccup to get on his back. _"Always."_

Hiccup froze mid-step. _"What?"_

Daydream blinked slowly at him and was silent, perhaps not understanding why Hiccup needed a reiteration.

_"Day Dream, thank you for helping me during this battle, for avenging Half Of Me. Of course I won't ride you afterward without your consent, you don't have to be my partner."_

Another slow blink that could mean anything. _"I will be your wings always."_

Stunned, Hiccup slowly knelt and very gently took the dragon's face between his hands. _"I don't understand. You _hate_ being ridden, you've always refused a true partner, you...?"_

He was startled again when the Night Fury touched the tips of his tongue to Hiccup's cheek. The dignified Daydream almost never licked anyone, or even displayed much affection at all with most people.

_"My Alpha."_ Daydream let his face rest against Hiccup's. _"My deepest desire has always been to learn how to love someone the way my father loved you."_ It was the second time he had referred to his connection with Toothless in such a way, a connection that meant so little to dragons yet so much to humans. _"Please teach me."_

Hiccup was crying again. He impulsively threw his arms around Daydream in a hug, and the Night Fury confined his surprise and discomfort to a mere lowering of head plates.

Then Hiccup returned to his fallen partner's side, laying another kiss on Toothless's head and gently resting a palm against his still face. "I won't let you have died for nothing, Toothless," he choked out. His voice steadied into a grim murmur. "I'll end this. For good. And then I'll figure out how to keep living without you, because you took half my heart with you and right now I feel like following you straight to Valhalla, and I know I can't. But I love you, Toothless. I'm sorry."

When he was finally able to tear himself away, Daydream was still waiting patiently. Hiccup flung himself onto the Night Fury's unsaddled back.

Nearby, Astrid let out a truly fearsome cry as her axe blade tore into the throat of the enormous warrior descending on her. A flare of pride lifted in Hiccup's heart as he watched her. When Astrid whipped her blood-splattered face around to check on him with desperate eyes, when Lily ripped her spear free of her own fallen attacker's shield and did the same, Hiccup smiled fiercely at them, and relief crossed their faces. He may have lost his other half, but he still had the rest of his family, the rest of his heart, to love and fight for.

_"He is OVER THERE, not here!"_ Lily's Nightmare shrieked furiously at him, indicating their enemy raging halfway across the battlefield.

_"TAKE HIM DOWN ALREADY!"_ Shimmerwing screamed from Lily's shoulder, still half-frenzied with battle fury.

Hiccup nodded. "Let's go, Daydream." The dragons took flight in a wild spray of snow.

Hiccup fixed his eyes on the distant figure of his best friend's murderer, leaning low over the Night Fury's back as Daydream accelerated. Hiccup's voice was quiet steel. "Say your prayers. You picked the wrong dragon to kill."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I've had an experimental "Toothless loses Hiccup" scene on my List Of HTTYD Fics To Write for a while, but then a "Hiccup Loses Toothless" scene started _writing_ itself in my head yesterday. Me being me, I also want to do a "Hiccup & Toothless die together" installment, so those will be parts two and three of this series.

Heh, there are OCs in this fic who were supposed to debut in _Two Worlds, One Family_, but ended up showing up first in this AU instead. X'D I'll talk more about Daydream, including his name, whenever he deigns to show up in TWOF. Same with Lily and the others. I deliberately avoided mentioning Lily's Nightmare's name in this story for reasons, but I'll probably edit it in once that dragon shows up properly in TWOF.

Also, I left Freefall (and some other Night Fury OCs) out of this fic, because her reaction to Toothless's death would have stolen too much focus away from Hiccup, and this isn't even a real TWOF fic, anyway. *sweatdrop*

As far as I know, Hiccup & Daydream won't become official partners in my headcanon (because I can't stand the thought of Hiccup & Toothless ever being separated X'D), but they do in this experimental AU scenario where Hiccup loses Toothless first. It takes them a while to figure out how to be good companions and form the kind of bond Daydream wants and Hiccup misses (because Daydream's personality is so dang different than Toothless's XD), but they get the hang of it _eventually_. I don't have any actual plot bunnies, but if I do ever write anything for that, I'll _probably_ post them in this series.

Argh, I _know_ I've got much more important stuff to write and draw, but I just cannot seem to stop compulsively writing HTTYD fanfiction. X'D I love this series so dang much...


End file.
